Higher education institutions (HEIs) often function in an environment where various institutional pressures force them to position themselves on a national-international orientation scale in order to gain legitimacy in the eyes of different constituents with different expectations. Empirical insights, however, on how HEIs respond to these forces…

In contemporary higher education, stakeholder management is increasingly important given the growing number and complexity of stakeholder groups. Defensive stakeholder management (DSM), defined as verbal responses of universities to stakeholder criticism, is a largely neglected topic in the higher education literature. Drawing from a combination…

In this explorative study, the translation perspective from organisational studies is taken to analyse how national accreditation agencies interpret the so-called European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) and adjust these to the domestic context. Additionally, the study investigates how review panels make use of the ESG vocabulary in their review…

Most studies on branding in higher education focus on external branding or image-building towards external stakeholders such as students. Internal branding is an underexplored topic, even though it should be considered as important as external branding. Internal branding is about achieving the necessary internal support for the external brand.…

This article explores the factors affecting the content of universities' mission statements. We conceptualize missions as identity narratives, a type of symbolic representation of an organization. Based on the literature on organizational identity we argue that universities need to address two major challenges when crafting their mission…

In higher education research, theoretical approaches stressing isomorphism dominate the discourse on how higher education institutions 'behave' in their higher education and research systems. We argue that research should address both instances of similarity and differences. Using theoretical notions from institutionalism and the…

In times when universities are becoming less self-evident, these organisations may be confounded in terms of which aspects of their activities and performances they should communicate with their stakeholders. A related question--central to our study--is how they communicate. This paper analyses the style of one particular type of communication:…

Earlier studies on stakeholder management in European universities focused on proactive strategies, that is, substantive organizational practices to establish and maintain mutually beneficial exchanges between universities and their stakeholders. We argue that the literature on stakeholder management has to be extended by theorizing defensive…

This paper argues that the impact of individual higher education institutions' strategies on system diversity should be explored. By looking at how universities respond strategically to governmental policies as well as to the actions of other (competing) institutions, our understanding of determinants of diversity can be enriched. A conceptual…

This paper reflects on the contributions to the journal "Higher Education Policy," celebrating its twenty-fifth birthday. It describes and analyses the themes addressed by the authors and the institutional background of the 1,172 contributors to the 812 papers. The analysis confirms the focus of the journal on higher education policy,…

Branding of higher education institutions (HEIs) is an expanding area of research. The existing literature mainly draws on the strategic management perspective that argues that HEIs are pressured to develop brands which differentiate them from their competitors. Past studies, however, do insufficiently take into account that most HEIs are…

In this paper we argue that both internal and external pressures and conditions urge contemporary higher education institutions to carefully think through their institutional profiles positions in domestic and global higher education contexts. We subsequently analyse strategic positioning from the strategic management literature and offer four…

Business schools globally operate in a market-driven environment and rankings are very much part of that environment. Rankings have a significant impact on a school's ability to attract the top scholars, the most able students and research funding. Schools use rankings to support claims of excellence and "world class" status. The purpose…

This article provides a detailed description and analysis of how one Canadian institution used groups of department heads as change agents to address their most acute department head role tensions. It is demonstrated that this institution's change initiative aligned very closely to the recommendations proposed, in both the literature pertaining to…

The aim of this article is to develop a framework that encapsulates the key managerial complexities of running offshore branch campuses. In the transnational higher education (TNHE) literature, several managerial ramifications and impediments have been addressed by scholars and practitioners. However, the strands of the literature are highly…